"Where am I...?" Lin Fan asked the void, slowly opening his eyes.
His gaze was directed at the wooden ceiling, and Lin Fan himself was in some traditional Chinese room.
The walls were decorated with various patterns and colorful paintings. On the table next to the bed was a jug with three mugs.
Only now Lin Fan realized that there was something lying on his chest. Looking down, he realized that he was naked, and on either side of him were two women who were sleeping soundly, looking sweaty but peaceful.
"What's going on here?... Who is this?..." Lin Fan said in his mind, slowly getting up from the bed, trying not to wake the women.
He sat on the bed and put his hand on his head, as it began to hurt.
There was a mirror next to the bed, and Lin Fan got up from the bed and walked towards it.
Looking in the mirror, he was surprised. After all, a stranger stood before him.
In the mirror, a tall guy with long black hair and dark blue eyes looked at him. This guy had a rather slender build and a pretty face.
"Bai Yunsheng!?" Lin Fan guessed.
In front of him stood one of the characters from his older sister Lin Yue's novel.
"The Legend of the Great Regressor" That was the name of Lin Yue's novel. This story tells of how a great warrior regressed into the past to change his fate. Simply put, a typical title about regression and cultivation!
"Why did I end up in my sister's novel? And why in Bai Yunsheng's body?" he wondered.
In the novel, Bai Yunsheng is a third-rate villain who tries to flirt with the protagonist's sister. In the end, the protagonist decides to fight him and publicly humiliate him, and in addition, destroy the foundation of cultivation!
"You couldn't think of anything better..." — he sighed and looked at the bed where those two women were lying.
As far as he remembers, Bai Yunsheng is the husband of the main villain of Volume 4 of "The Legend of the Great Regressor".
"I think her name was Lei Jiangxue..." he remembered her.
Lei Jiangxue is the youngest daughter of General Lei Shengli and she is the head of the fortress city of Wujiang.
According to the plot, she first appears in Chapter 35 of Volume 1. According to the plot, the protagonist and his sister mentor go to the annual martial arts tournament and Lei Jiangxue becomes the organizer of the tournament.
Later, she appears in Volume 4 as the main villain and destroys the Heavenly Cloud Sect where the protagonist studies.
"In the meantime, Bai Yunsheng is just an NPC..." Lin Fan sighed.
Bai Yunsheng was a typical villain whose role was to be beaten by the protagonist.
He was just an asshole. Despite having a wife, Bai Yunsheng was a womanizer and was always having an affair with different women. Sometimes even in front of Lei Jiangxue. More often, he went to a brothel and spent time there.
"Now I understand where I am..." Lin Fan said and began to get dressed.
One of the women on the bed stirred and muttered sleepily.
"Mr. Bai, are you leaving already?" she asked and yawned.
"Yeah... I'll be back later..." the guy answered casually, in an indifferent voice.
"Then I'll wait for you!" she said and smiled.
Lin Fan didn't even look at her. He just sighed and left the room. On his way out, he met the "workers" of the brothel and almost every one of them smiled sweetly at him, asking him to come to them next time.
After leaving the brothel, Lin Fan began to walk around Wujiang, planning what to do next along the way.
***
A young man walked alone through the crowded city. His posture and face attracted the attention of all passersby.
Two kinds of looks were directed at him. The loving looks of women and the envious eyes of their men.
But Lin Fan didn't care about their looks. He confidently walked without knowing where he was, examining the area with his deep, abyss-like eyes.
The buildings, the scenery, the people's clothes, everything told him that he was not in his world...
"I need to decide what to do... According to the plot, I will die, so I need to avoid it at all costs!..."
Passing past another counter, someone he did not expect to see appeared in front of Lin Fan...
"What are you doing here?" a voice as cold as ice reached the guy. Instinctively, he understood who this voice belonged to.
His dark eyes met the crimson eyes of the woman he had been remembering not long ago.
"Lei Jiangxue..." Lin Fan thought and looked at her with his cold gaze and empty eyes.
"Why her?" flashed through his head, recalling the phrase "remember the sun, here comes a ray."
"What are you doing here?" a woman with dark hair like raven wings and crimson eyes like rubies said with a voice as cold as ice. There was an eye patch on her left eye.
Lin Fan looked at her. His dark and lifeless eyes met with her crimson and cold eyes.
"The same as always..." Lin Fan said in an indifferent voice. He did not want to reveal who he was, and fortunately, Bai Yunsheng's lousy reputation left no other ideas than him going to brothels.
Lei Jiangxue nodded. She did not care what her husband did or with whom, as long as it did not bring her unnecessary trouble.
"I see... Then go home!" she ordered, looking at him.
"I don't want to!" Lin Fan objected.
"I don't really know where to go, since the novel didn't mention Lei Jiangxue's residence. So I'll just get lost!" Lin Fan thought to himself.
Lei Jiangxue frowned. She had no desire to quarrel with her husband and listen to his whims.
She released a little of her aura and said in a more commanding tone.
"Go. Home. Now!" Lei Jiangxue said. Everyone standing nearby looked at her with fear in their eyes. Even her guards couldn't help but tremble.
However, her husband remained calm. There was no hint of fear in his eyes.
But Lin Fan didn't waste time. With a soft sigh, he nodded and followed his wife.
Lei Jiangxue nodded and headed towards their house. She was surprised that her husband, who usually didn't even dare to look at her, was suddenly standing proudly, looking into her eyes. And she even released her aura!
"What's gotten into him?" she thought, stealthily looking at her husband. "Has he really got his head in his hands?" flashed through her mind as they walked.
The entire journey was spent in silence. Everyone was thinking about something different. Lei Jiangxue's guards silently followed behind her, occasionally glancing at Bai Yunsheng, who was in the clouds.
Meanwhile, Bai Yunsheng (Lin Fan) himself was thinking about the current situation.
"So, as I thought, I fell into my sister's novel! Before, I could doubt it, but now I'm sure of it! I need to figure out what to do! I'm not going to fall victim to the protagonist's fetish. The fetish called "opponent cultivation"!
"Listen Jiangxue..." Lin Fan called out to her and when she looked at him, he said in a low voice: "What day is it today?"
Everyone stopped abruptly, looking at him and continued walking. Lei Jiangxue said in an indifferent voice:
"The first day of the sixth month according to the star calendar!"
"I see... So, I have a month before the protagonist arrives! "Then I'll be able to prepare for his arrival!" Lin Fan thought to himself.
He had a month before the protagonist of the novel would come and take away his cultivation.
If he remembered the opening chapters of the novel correctly, the protagonist was at the 5th stage of Qi Refining (1). When he arrived in Wujiang, he would be at the initial stage of Foundation Establishment (2).
"I could start changing the plot of the novel, but the protagonist is a regressor. So he can figure out what went wrong and where... But I still don't want to be his punching bag! I have two options left!"
"The most obvious one is cultivation! I have to get stronger to avoid fighting him, but I don't want to sit around like an idiot for months and pray for my cultivation to grow a little! And for that case, there is a second option!"
"I need to gather strong people around me who will do all the dirty work for me!"
"For me, this is the perfect option. I know the plot of the novel well, so finding a couple of loyal people will not be a big problem. So let's do it! I will gather strong people and have them work for me!" Lin Fan set his goal in his mind.
Bai Yunsheng walked along the paved road next to Lei Jiangxue, not in a hurry. Her long black hair fluttered in the wind, her scarlet eye looked coldly ahead, and the eye patch on her left eye only emphasized her frightening aura. The guards followed behind, but when they reached the gate of the residence, they stopped. The city leader's guards knew their place: behind these walls, only Lei Jiangxue gave orders.
"Let's go!" she said calmly, without turning around to look at her husband.
Bai Yunsheng chuckled.
"As if I have a choice."
The city leader's residence looked majestic: massive stone walls covered in patterns, carved columns, huge black wood doors with the Lei symbol. Bai Yunsheng couldn't help but recall the description from novel:
"It was a place where cold beauty, strict order and impeccable discipline ruled. There was no place for idleness, weakness or unnecessary emotions..."
He glanced sideways at his "wife".
"Here it is, the lair of the final boss of the second plan. A fortress full of suffering subordinates and people with suppressed feelings. It's like walking into a Gothic novel with elements of a military dictatorship."
The guards, remaining at the entrance, looked at each other when Bai Yunsheng crossed the threshold of the residence. There was neither respect nor fear in their gazes. Rather, a slight mockery.
"Well, yes, to them I am still the same talentless person who drooled over his wife and spent money on beautiful things. Oh well, guys. I'll surprise you yet."
The servants inside the residence didn't show much respect either. On the contrary, they quickly lowered their eyes as they passed by, as if they were afraid that he would suddenly pester them.
Lei Jiangxue, on the other hand, acted as if she hadn't noticed his presence at all. She calmly walked into the main hall, and Bai Yunsheng followed her.
They stopped in a spacious hall.
"Bai Yunsheng..." She said his name as if she was tasting something tasteless. "Are you going to do everything like usual again?"
Bai Yunsheng looked at her with a smirk.
— Oh, this was my house? I thought that only the majestic Mrs. Lei Jiangxue lived here, and I was just... a decorative element.
She looked at him coldly, but said nothing.
"The old me would have started something like: 'Wife, you are so cruel!' or 'When will you let me sleep with you?', but I am too lazy."
Bai Yunsheng slowly walked around the hall. The interior was strict, dark wood, weapons on the walls, books, maps. And no personal details.
"There aren't even any paintings from her childhood. It's as if she was born a soldier!"
He sat down in a chair and stretched tiredly.
"I decided to live here," he said, lazily watching Lei Jiangxue's expression.
She raised an eyebrow slightly.
"And what changed?"
"Everything.
They stared at each other for a few seconds until the silence was broken by the soft clicking of claws on the floor. A snow-white tiger appeared from behind a pillar. It lazily walked up to Lei Jiangxue and lay down at her feet.
"Oh, right. Your personal beast. In the novel, it was even stronger than her at one point. I hope it doesn't feel like I have a different soul now."
The tiger looked up at him, but then yawned and closed its eyes.
"Good boy. I wish I could just lie down and sleep too."
"I don't care what you do," Lei Jiangxue finally said. "But know your place."
Bai Yunsheng smiled widely. His lifeless eyes looked at her.
"Of course, my dear wife."
She remained silent, but a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes. Apparently, she was expecting a different answer.
After she left, Bai Yunsheng was left alone in the hall. He closed his eyes and began to think.
"Okay. In a month, the protagonist of the novel will arrive. The usual plot is: 'evil noble insults a woman, receives karma in the form of loss of cultivation, disappears into oblivion'. I should change it so that the regressor will not suspect anything."
He remembered the description of that scene: his character tried to flirt with one of the girls in the protagonist's retinue - his sister-mentor. The protagonist would show up, beat him up, and take away his cultivation, thinking that he was doing a good deed.
"Fine. Then I will just not flirt."
But there was one "but". If he simply disappeared from the scene, that might also arouse suspicion. After all, the protagonist is a regressor, which means he remembers his past life.
"Then I need to make it so that my image remains the same, but with a slight deviation. For example... I'll just be there, but ignore the girl. Maybe even look at her with disgust, as if I'm not interested in her at all."
He smirked.
"It will be strange for you, but not so strange that you'll think that the whole world has changed. You'll just think that you made a mistake in your memories. It will even give me an aura of mystery."
The plan was simple, but effective.
"And then, while the protagonist is busy with his 'path of justice', I'll busy myself with gathering power. Maybe not my own, but someone else's."
He stood up and headed to his room.
"Now I have a whole month to start a game of chess, where the protagonist doesn't even suspect that someone is already changing the pieces on the board."
And with that thought, Bai Yunsheng chuckled and lay down more comfortably on the sofa and fell asleep. The white tiger was still sleeping, completely oblivious to his presence.
To be continued...